"Sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them. In this regard, the Church reaffirms the law of subsidiarity, which the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in sex education, by entering into the same spirit that animates the parents.

In this context education for chastity is absolutely essential, for it is a virtue that develops a person's authentic maturity and makes him or her capable of respecting and fostering the "nuptial meaning" of the body. Indeed Christian parents, discerning the signs of God's call, will devote special attention and care to education in virginity or celibacy as the supreme form of that self-giving that constitutes the very meaning of human sexuality.

In view of the close links between the sexual dimension of the person and his or her ethical values, education must bring the children to a knowledge of and respect for the moral norms as the necessary and highly valuable guarantee for responsible personal growth in human sexuality.

For this reason the Church is firmly opposed to an often widespread form of imparting sex information dissociated from moral principles. That would merely be an introduction to the experience of pleasure and a stimulus leading to the loss of serenity-while still in the years of innocence-by opening the way to vice." Familiaris Consortio

Familiaris Consortio. Apostolic Exhortation on the Role of Family Life in the Modern World, John Paul II

Educational Guidance in Human Love: Outlines for Sex Education (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, 1983)

Healthy Students Act, removes abstinence education requirement: SB 59

Senate passed version of HB 1 (budget bill) requires State to reapply for Federal Abstinence monies.

Resources

True Love Waits: Abstinence Education for Teens. National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (2006)

Need More Information

Contact Jim Tobin , 614-224-7147